


Day 1, pt 2 - The Nightmare Court

by vindace



Series: Growth [2]
Category: Guild Wars
Genre: Coming of Age, F/M, Original Character(s), World Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-14
Updated: 2014-06-14
Packaged: 2018-02-04 15:42:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1784437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindace/pseuds/vindace





	Day 1, pt 2 - The Nightmare Court

Only a few yard away, Rhys stopped to the calls of the man-something. She turned and saw him and the quietly concerned sylvari approaching again. She gave them both a very odd look, pointing at them both questioningly. Why were they following her? The man-something said something about it being dangerous and she showed him her dagger, gesturing toward the swamp they'd just come from. She was untouched, right?

He spoke with weird, awkward pauses. Like he had to remember the words in the middle of what he said. Rhys found herself looking at him peculiarly for several moments before she shrugged and turned away, looking around for something interesting. As the man-something introduced himself as 'Brucin'--hmm….Brucin Man-Something--and had a one-sided conversation with the other sylvari (whom Rhys now realized did not speak, just like her), Rhystara walks a little ways off and began to inspect a very colorful plant.

"So, uh...I guess you don't speak either?" 

Rhys looked up to see Brucin Man-Something nearby. She frowned a bit, standing and shaking her head. When he asked if she could sign, she gave him a blank look. 

"Do you...have a name?" He sounded so...not comfortable. Was that armor pinching him? 

Rhys jumped up and nodded eagerly, grinning at him. Then she started gesturing...then she stopped. She knew her name--she could hear it and spell it in her mind. But there was no way to tell him! Her expression turned very confused and she dropped her arms uselessly.

"Oh, uh, do you have paper?" He apparently was asking the both of them, as Rhys and the other sylvari both shook their heads, "Ok...I guess I could give you a nickname…?"

Rhys blinked at him.

"Uh…" he apparently was attempting to rub the back of his neck through his armor. It didn't work, "Alright...uh...h-how about...Chickapea?"

The sapling was obviously very taken aback. She glared at Brucin for several long moments, and pretty soon saw him shrinking away from her. Then, like a switch had been flipped, she shrugged and nodded with a bright smile. The Man-Something need to call her SOMETHING, right? So she let it be.

"Oh, good. Chickapea it is," he said, apparently relieved, "We'll just call you that until we can find some paper and a quill. Oh! That's your name! Quill!"

Rhys looked up and around in complete bewilderment, then saw he was talking to the other mute sylvari. So her name was Quill? Quill and Brucin Man-Something.

It was nice to have friends.

The rest of the day was very interesting. When she ran off they followed, and when she stopped to inspect things they waited around. She caught Quill smiling at her fairly often, and though it felt patronizing she didn't mind. She just smiled back and continued to explore and help out where she could. The sapling knew no fear, rushing into battle with Risen whenever she saw one. Even covered by full armor Brucin couldn't hide the heart attacks he got sometimes when she did this---but she didn't really pay it any mind. He seemed like a nervous, unsure individual at the best of times.

Through a ravine filled with Risen, they found a briar-covered camp. When she tried to peek through the briars she could barely make out anything, but before she attempted to crawl through them she was accosted by a very sneaky warden. He explained to her that he needed people to disguise themselves and enter the camp, sabotaging the nightmare court within. She nodded and went in before Brucin and Quill even caught up with her.

Had she been able to feel the silent freak out she'd just caused Brucin, Rhys may have hesitated and consented to leave. As it was, she naturally and fearlessly cleared bramble with no one saw, comforted captive hounds, and even was able to help two sylvari captives escape. That one was tricky. But her flighty personality only aided her in vacating the area as soon as she'd done it. She was moving on up a slope in the camp when Brucin caught up with her.

She was VERY surprised when he hissed at her. Even with his awkward nervousness, the tenseness she felt in the hand which grasped her arm was painful. He told her they had to get out now, that she didn't understand how dangerous it was. She slapped him off of her and pointed insistently at a trio of captives some fifty yards away. Quill reached them soon after, but seemed much more ok with the idea that Rhys would do this.

In the end, it was useless. This guard would not leave the post, and there was very little a mute sylvari like Rhys could do to change that. Feeling very much like a failure, the sapling allowed Brucin to get her out of that place before he exploded. He and Quill took her back close to the swamp outpost, and then Quill went on her own way. Rhys silently waved then wandered off to what looked like an ornate gravestone on a ridge. Before long, she was sitting in front of it and zoning out.

"Hey...what are you doing, Chickapea?"

Rhys scooted around and looked up to see Brucin Man-Something approaching her yet again. She blinked at him for a few seconds, then she let herself sigh a little and patted the ground in front of her. He didn't know this, and she couldn't really communicate it to him, but this was the first quiet moment she'd taken since waking. She'd had no inclination to be still before.

Those poor captives….

Brucin was silent. She thought she saw him awkwardly attempting to say something, but then he just sat a little bit away from her. Frowning, Rhystara gave an audible huff and stood up, moving closer and in front of him and sitting down again. Was there really any point to his distance? It only made it hard for her to make herself understood. 

After a few moments of "conversation," Rhys picked up one hand to poke at his helmet experimentally. He seemed to tense, but she gestured insistently, miming taking it off and gesturing at her eyes, then him. He apparently got the message, but didn't take it like she wanted him to.

Brucin stood, "Well...it's getting late. I should...I should go."

Rhys pouted, about to give him a disapproving glare when she thought of something else. He was in the middle of saying "Well...see you later, Chickapea…" when she furiously waved him back down and pointed at the ground next to her. She started clearing the ground in a small area until it was nothing but loose dirt. 

By the time she was ready to start drawing with one finger he was sitting once more and leaning forward with interest. Or at least, that was what she assumed-- the helmet didn't have many expressions. She directed his attention to the ground one last time before she drew the letters in the dirt and leaned back: "R-H-Y-S-T-A-R-A"

"Rhys..tara," He sounded out, then seemed to understand, "So that's your name? Rhystara?"

She nodded with a giant grin and gestured toward him eagerly.

"Ok…" He said, raising his hands nervously, "I see. You...told me your name...so I'll show you my face."

The sapling had about five seconds of pure bewilderment at this--she hadn't actually meant that at all. She'd just wanted to let him know her name…? He could keep his dumb little helmet on if he wanted.

So he removed his helmet, and revealed the blue skin--bark--of his neck. Then the unmistakable sylvari face, eyes, and leaves of his head. Rhys was still for a half a second, then she jumped up and pointed at him in silent accusation. She couldn't feel him! What was this, then? He wasn't in the dream! He wasn't supposed to be a sylvari!

He seemed to understand her meaning from the simple point. She saw his face darken with a flush as he ducked his head, "Uhm...yeah...Yeah, sorry. I'm sylvari."

When she kept looking at him like that, he started standing up and talking about leaving again. Apparently he thought she hated him. The youngling jumped forward and caught his hands before he put the helmet back on, poking his face with a look of approval on her own. She liked it. Then she knelt down and wiped her name from the ground, writing the word "good" and then pointing at him. Then the word. Then him. He was good.

He flushed again, then mumbled something about her being just a little too trusting. But he thanked her, and they "talked" a little bit longer before they went their separate ways.


End file.
